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The Ones Who Remain/Issue 1
This is issue 1 of The Ones Who Remain, entitled: A New Life. Issue 1; A New Life The sun started to rise over the small town of Livingston, Florida, and most of it's citizens were already roaming the streets, hard at work. They all wore dirty clothes, and a good amount of them carried around small firearms or assault rifles, and right on the border of the town was a giant hand-made wall. A few people stood on top of it, keeping an eye on the other side of the wall. In one of the houses, a young man slept heavily, face buried into the stone-hard pillow. Suddenly, the loud beeping of the alarm clock, which was hanging on the edge of the dresser, went off. He sat up immediately, grabbing the pistol at the side of his bed, before looking at the clock, and relaxing. He shut it off, and rubbed his eyes. The young man had blonde hair, pale skin, and was no older than eighteen. He stood up, only in his underwear, and walked over to his closet, grabbing a pair of dirty and ripped jeans out of the closet, tossing them onto his bed. There was a sudden knock on his door, and he turned toward his door, sighing. "Mike? It's me, you decent?" a feminine voice called from the other side of the door. "Uh, no." he quickly said. "Coming in anyways," she quickly said, and soon after his door opened and a young blonde girl, a little bit younger than him walked in. She quickly walked past Mike, ignoring the half-naked man, and plopped herself on his bed, a magazine in her hand. She looked at Mike, who was just standing there, looking at her awkwardly. "Oh, come on sexy..." she teased. "You're looking so irresistible right now." "Whatever, Nikki." he said, as she passed him his jeans, which he casually put on. "Where were you last night?" "I was with Auntie Brenda and my mom." she said, before smirking flirtatiously. "Why? Did you miss me?" "Well, Harley lent me one of her movies, Terminator, I think it's called." "Is that the movie with Judd Nelson?" she asked. "Uh, I think that's the... shit, what's it called? We watched it last week?" "Dunno," she said, before paying her attention back to the magazine in her hand, as Mike put his shirt on. "Oh, almost forgot..." "Forgot what?" he asked, sitting on the bed next to her. "I found this... Auntie Brenda wouldn't tell me what it was-- but it's definitely interesting." "Playboy?" Mike asked, looking from the magazine to Nikki. "What the fuck is a Playboy?" "Don't know, it's just a bunch of naked girls..." "Where'd you find it?" he asked. "A few miles from town, where I also saw one of those huge cars... what are they called?" "A van?" "Yeah, a van. Saw one crashed-- thought you might wanna come check it out with me...?" "Yeah, yeah, yeah," Mike said, to which Nikki got up, smiling. "I'll be down in a few minutes, just let me finish getting ready." "Of course-- although I have to admit." she said, looking at him. "You look much better with no pants on." "Just shut up, already." he said, jokingly. Nikki flashed a smile before exiting the room, closing the door behind her. ---- Mike and Nikki walked through the busy road, smiling to the other townspeople as they passed them. Mike's pistol was concealed in his pants and Nikki just walked casually, smiling and flashing waves to the some of the others. As they got to the end wall, Nikki led Mike along it until they were out of sight from everyone else. From there, Mike quickly lifted Nikki up, and she was able to get on the top of it. Nikki looked around, not noticing everybody around, reached her hand down for Mike. Mike grabbed hold of her hand, and she helped lift him up on top of the wall. Before any of the guards could notice, Mike and Nikki both jumped onto the other side of the wall, and ran into the surrounding woods. ---- The woods was like a maze for most people, trees everywhere, leaves always covering the ground so no one could see where they were going... but not for Mike & Nikki. The two had been in the woods so many times together, they know the woods like the back of their hands. As the two got to the end of the woods, which led to a highway, Nikki looked amongst the crashed vehicles. They were all rusting away, the tires were all removed, and the dark blood stained only half of them. She looked to her left, and lying in the roadside ditch, was a gray-red van. She smiled, and tugged on Mike's shoulder, drawing his attention toward it. He looked at it, and followed Nikki, who had already started jogging toward it. Nikki got into the ditch, and quickly ran to the front door of the van, Mike close behind her. Nikki immediately tried to open the door, but to no avail, it was stuck shut. Mike, thinking fast, took the pistol out of his pants, and quickly hit it against the driver's window, which shattered the glass. He stuck his head in, looking around for any danger as Nikki watched him. "Looks clear..." he said, before climbing in through the window. He quickly looked into the back, double checking the van, before looking back at Nikki. "Come on in." Nikki quickly started to climb through the window too, as Mike went into the back of the van, looking at some of the supplies. As Nikki struggled to pull her body through, as she wasn't as strong as Mike, a figure emerged from the woods, walking straight toward her. This figure looked like a human, but it was far from it. It had a dark gray skin, some of which had rotted away. It had dark yellow eyes, it's lips missing, and it's teeth was a dark yellow, with red stains in them. It limped toward Nikki, and when it got into arms reach, it quickly grabbed hold of her feet. Nikki's scream was loud and piercing in the ears of Mike, who was in the back of the van. He quickly got to the front of the van, and hurriedly got to Nikki, who was trying to kick the guy back. Mike quickly grabbed hold of Nikki's hand, and with all of his might, he pulled her toward him. As Mike pulled Nikki through the window, toward him, the zombie tried to come with her, but was blocked by the door. Mike quickly looked at the ground where his gun was, and picked it up using his free arm, as Nikki wrapped herself in the other one. He quickly aimed at the guy who was reaching through the window at Nikki, and shot him in the head. As the guy fell to the ground, Mike dropped the gun, and wrapped Nikki in his arms, who was still a little startled. He looked over at her feet for any bites, but to his satisfaction she was injury free. Suddenly, Nikki lifted her head, looking at Mike, before breaking out into laughter, as Mike just chuckled. "That would've sucked." she said, as Mike released his grip from her. "Nice shootin', sexy." Mike just shook his head, as Nikki got up. "Be more careful please. If a biter gets you or something it's on me." "You love me." she simply said, smiling. "Admit it." "I totally love you." he said, sarcastically, getting up as well, to which Nikki just throws her hands up in victory. "Come on," she said, going into the back of the van. "Let's see what we got..." ---- About two hours later, Mike and Nikki still sat in the back of the van, flipping through a book together. The book, The Mist, had several pages ripped out, but they were still making good use of it. Nikki sat next to Mike, head resting on his shoulder as he went through the book. Suddenly, the sound of cars made the two look up from their reading, and the two immediately get up, working their way quickly to the front of the van, staring out the windshield. Not before long, two cars came into view, and drove quickly toward them. Mike quickly motioned for Nikki to get down, which she quickly did. Mike just watched as the cars got closer and closer, before going down next to Nikki, hoping it didn't see them. But, as the cars stopped, and both Mike & Nikki could hear the sound of the doors slamming shut. "Mike! Nikki!" he could hear the familiar voice call out. "Shit," Nikki muttered. "Busted..." Mike sighed, and he quickly got up, as did Nikki and they both looked over at the two cars, where a red-headed lady stood, as well as another middle aged lady, with short brown hair. "You're mom's here too..." Mike whispered. "Fuck... we're screwed." she muttered. Mike quickly went back to the driver's seat, and made his way out the window. After he got out, he assisted in getting Nikki out before the two walked over to the two ladies, who were holding assault rifles. Nikki's mom noticed them first, and stormed over to them, the red-haired woman quickly noticing too, following her. "Nikki? Mike? What the hell were you thinking?" Nikki's mom asked, her face red. "Mom, I'm sorry." Nikki quickly said. "Sorry? What if something had happened to you? You don't even know how to use a gun!" she said, talking too fast for Nikki to keep up. "Mike protected me." she said, looking over at Mike, who hasn't stopped looking at the red-haired woman, before looking back at Nikki and Emma who were looking at him. "Oh," he said, nodding his head. "Yeah." "Take Nikki back to the zone, I'll handle Mike." the red-haired woman said. "Auntie Brenda--" Nikki started. "Don't wanna hear it." she quickly snapped back, before looking at Mike. "Get in the car... now." "Fuck," Mike muttered, only audible for Nikki to hear. The two exchanged worried some glances, before Mike quickly went to one of the cars, hopping in the passenger seat. Brenda quickly went into the driver's seat of the car, and just looked at Mike who stared emptily into the street. "What were you fucking thinking?" she asked, smacking him over the head. "Nikki and I just wanted to get out of the zone--" "Why?" she asked, as she started to turn the car around. "We're perfectly safe in there." "I just don't wanna be held down by the restrictions and all the boundaries. It feels nice to get out every once in a while..." "But what if I lost you? What if you and Nikki were killed by biters? Or the bandits?" Mike didn't respond, and instead just sighed. He knew her intentions were good, but she was just so annoying with all of her nagging. "Hey," she said, turning to him. "I promised your mother I'd keep you safe, and I'm not breaking that promise. Not now, not ever." "I never met her, what would I care?" he asked, shutting his eyes closed. "I know you don't remember her." she said, not taking her eyes off of the road. "But, you can't be taking these stupid risks. And what's worse is you put Nikki in danger." "I'm sorry." he suddenly snapped back. "What do you want from me? We were just having fun. Nothing went wrong, nothing ever goes wrong. You're too over-protective." "I'm over-protective for a reason. It's a dangerous world, and God forbid someone from Echo found you guys and you were breaking violation like that? You would've been tortured, raped, killed." Mike only sighed as Brenda continued to drive down the road, continuing her rant, Emma & Nikki close behind them in their car. ---- That night, Mike sat on the ledge of his windowsill, staring at the full moon. Something about the moon he found so fascinating and beautiful. As he stared into the moon, he looked down at his lap, where a picture sat. He picked it up, and held it against the moon, for the best possible view. In the picture was Mike when he was a little baby, a blonde girl, no older than Nikki, holding him. He tearfully looked at the picture, seeing the happiness in his mother's eyes killed him... because he'll never have any memories of her. He'll have the stories from his aunts, he'll have the picture to remind him what she looks like, but he'll never know who she truly was, and he'll never get to say goodbye. He then heard light footsteps coming from the roof, and he quickly put the picture away under his sweatshirt. As he looks up, Nikki stands there, a big jacket on, and a huge backpack on as well. "Nikki...?" Mike asked, quiet enough to make sure no one else heard him. "Can I come in?" she asked. "Of course," he quickly said, and the two went into the room through the window. As they got inside, Mike got a good look at Nikki, her hair was a wreck, her eyes were black and blue, and her cheek was swollen. Nikki quickly took off her jacket, exposing her bra, throwing the jacket onto the ground. "Are you okay?" Mike asked, watching her panic. "What's going on?" "I just-- I needed someone to talk to." she said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Yeah, of course." he said, taking a seat next to her, grabbing hold of one of her hands. "What's wrong?" "I just don't know, as soon as we got back she just attacked me. Wouldn't stop hitting me-- I thought she was trying to kill me." she said, shaking as she remembered the story. "It's okay, Nikki." Mike said in a calm, soothing voice. "She was just angry, it won't happen again." "This isn't the first time she's done this... it's been happening more and more often. After Richie passed away she started coming home drunk-- she'd attack me whenever she got mad... I just can't deal with it anymore." Mike nodded, bringing in the now-crying Nikki into his chest. "You can stay here with me for as long as you need." "No." she quickly said, pulling herself away, looking into Mike's eyes. "She'll know I'm here, we have to leave." "Woah, woah, woah, let's not do anything rash here..." "I can't take it anymore. The beatings they'll never stopped-- you promised you'd protect me." "And I will." he said, calmly kissing her on her forehead to sooth her down. "Just, stay here with me for now. Make yourself at home, I think Reynolds is downstairs right now anyways. If anyone does come, he'll let me know." "Thanks," she said, wiping a few tears away from her cheeks. Mike only smiled, and brought Nikki into a tighter hug. From the doorway, Emma, Nikki's mom, watched from the crack of the doorway. Tears flooded down her face, that her own daughter thought that way about her, so she tuned around and quickly headed off. ---- In another town, the rain poured hard as two men walked quickly through the streets. Each one wore a green uniform, and the people surrounding them had them too, aside from a couple of kids who played through the streets. "Johnson, give me that update on Livingston." the bigger of the two said. This man was buff, stood tall, and every factor of him was intimidating. "They didn't pay again, what they were told to." the other man, Johnson, replied. "They gave us half, but that's not nearly enough if we want to survive here ourselves." "Tell them that I'm getting-- unsatisfied with their recent efforts, and they're the only community who hasn't been able to pay us back what's necessary." "Yes sir, I'll take a team tomorrow when the sun rises." "Very well." As Johnson starts to head off in a different direction, he suddenly turns back around. "And Davie?" he started, to which the man turned back toward Johnson. "A couple of scouts saw a couple of freeloaders in the vicinity of Livingston." "Well, if you see them again outside the premises... bring them back to me." Category:The Ones Who Remain Category:The Ones Who Remain Issues Category:Pilots Category:Issues